Stock futures pointed to a higher opening for equity markets in Canada on Monday, tracking gains in U.S. futures following the approval of a wide-ranging tax overhaul by the Senate.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index slid 28.51 to end the day and the week at 16,038.97
The Canadian dollar 1.28 cents at 78.83 cents U.S. Monday morning.
December futures gained 0.6% Monday.
Hudson's Bay Co said on Friday it reached an agreement with shareholder Land & Buildings, under which the activist investor would withdraw its appeal against the conditional approval given for an investment by Rhone Capital.
TransCanada Corp has raised some rates for committed and spot shippers on its Keystone crude oil pipeline effective from Jan. 1, according to a filing with the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Friday.
Credit Suisse cut the rating on Lundin Mining to neutral
Canaccord Genuity raised the target price on BRP to $56.00 from $51.00
Desjardins raised the target price on National Bank of Canada to $64.00 from $62.00
CIBC raised the price target on New Flyer Industries to $60.00 from $59.00
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange squeezed higher by 0.11 points to end Friday at 789
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a strong positive open on Monday, as sentiment was boosted by news that the U.S. Senate narrowly passed a major tax bill over the weekend.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials shot higher 254 points, or 1.1%, to 24,492
S&P 500 futures advanced 15.5 points, or 0.6%, at 2,659.50, while futures on the NASDAQ Composite index leaped 26.75 points, or 0.1%, to 6,373
Shares of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Citigroup soared in the pre-market, rising at least 2%.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, Senate Republicans managed to narrowly pass a bill to revamp the country's tax system. The final vote came out as 51-49 in favour, after Republicans had to rework the bill late on Thursday.
Shifting to Monday, investors will be poring over news that U.S. drugstore operator CVS Health is to buy Aetna, a U.S. health insurer, for $69 billion. The agreement is seen as one of 2017's biggest deals so far in the M&A (merger and acquisition) space.
Ascena Retail and Coupa Software are expected to publish earnings on Monday.
Meanwhile on the data front, factory orders are set to be published at 10 a.m. ET.
Overseas, European stocks traded higher at noon local time, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 retreated 0.5%, but in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index gained 0.2%
Oil prices dipped 41 cents to $57.95 U.S. per barrel.
Gold prices slipped $5.30 to $1,277.00 U.S. an ounce.
